Ok I'm not proud to admit I don't own a quality worm drive saw. The Skill Mag 77, is pretty much industry standard and is the front runner. The Makita looks and feels real nice much lighter then even the Mag 77 and the Few BOSH tools I have I love. Anyone have any experience with any of the above?.

I am formwork contractor and we have used Bosch and skill worm drives both are good saws. But we primarily use the skill 77 and they will take a beating and keep working. We always wear out parts of the frame and base plate before anything on the motor happens. We runn them in the sand mud and rain and get years of service. I will say it is easier to use a regular saw instead of a wormdrive due to the weight.

I have a "regular" Skill saw now and yes it's much lighter than a worm drive. So what would you say the advantages of a worm drive like the 77 are? Keep in mind I'm a DYI guy and don't use my tools like a traditional construction worker would. Example I'm not in a hurry and don't leave my tools in the dirt so they get treated pretty well. But I can surely appreciate overbuilt tool that can take the abuse as you described.

Mag 77 all the way. The others are not even close. All are good brands but Skil does the 7 1/4 worm drive the best. Yeah they are heavier and now the blade is on the opposite side than what you are used to with the cheaper circular saws but once you get used to it there is nothing better than a Skil Saw. I run a 50ft cord right into mine so it doesn’t get hung up at the plug. if you dont want to buy a new saw try the Irwin Marathon carbide tipped 7 1/4" blades. They are 10 bucks or so at HD, Lowes, etc and offer long life with a small kerf. A dull blade will make any saw a turd.

Diablos are good too. Like BMW or Mercedes. Both are top end. Just personal preference. Save a couple of your old blades for stuff like Hardi plank siding or boards with nails. Any non wood product will ruin the good ones in only a couple cuts.

Worm drives have an advantage when it comes to ripping material, cutting wet material, cutting 4x materialor stacks of material. And they are built better. When I am doing work at home I will always grab a regular saw unless I am ripping something. IMO I feel it is easier to makea more precise cut and more comfortable do to the handle position. But the saw you bought is great and will do anything you will want to do. As far as the Diablo blades they are great blades $$$$ but a new irwin will cut just as fast maybe notlast as long but they are1/3 the price.

^^^I agree. I have always used a regular saw. It was not untill we did the concrete and started laying down the forms and cutting wet 2x4s did I have a chance to play with the Worm Drive. Holly crap it's got way more cutting power then the regular saw. IMO cutting a 2X4 by holding a regular saw in 1 hand and a 2x4 in the other and cutting it in the air is asking for trouble. But with the weight and the way you hold the worm drive cutting wood standing straight up is no problem. So I agree the Regular Skill saw is more of a scalpel and the Worm drive is more or a sword!

Hey on the Irwirn blades they have like 4 diffrent Marathon blades what ones are you talking about.

Ok some Worm Drive trivia I have found out. Bosh owns Skill so the Bosh Worm drive is pretty much the same unit as the Skill inside, it looks like the handles and some of the exterior plastic is diffrent.

The trick worm drive is the Mag 77LT it spins faster then the Regular Mag 77 (5600 rpms) Vs the Mag 77 spins around 4500 Rpm and it's just a bit smaller.
Also the Mag 77LT and the Bosh worm drive has a removable power cord. This makes it's easier to replace the cord in the event you cut it off. One advantage of the Skill Vs Makita is that Home Depot carries all the replacement parts in stock. They had a cord, trigger, brushes, gaurds, ect all the things that would or could break.

Mag 77 $199
Mag 77LT $229

I picked up a Diablo so I'll do a Irwin Vs Diablo challenge this weekend.

I prefer Diablo over Irwin.
I've had a Makita and extensively use the Skil77 but I landed on Rigids new wormdrive after my tools were stolen. I love it. Has insane power and cuts cleaner and straighter than anything I've used. They also have a lifetime warranty. At the end of the day they are all pretty damn good and just comes down yo personal preference.

Another reason some people prefer wormdrives is because they're easier to see when your cutting right handed. I personally haven't found it any different but I've heard from others many times.

The Bosch is lighter than the mag 77. Also a side note...the Bosch base plate fits the Mag and cuts some weight off too. It does come down to personal preference though. I also like the Diableo blades. Get one of their demo blades. They cut through nails, rocks, bolts, screws and still cut wood well.

Bosh rep says they Own Diablo as well. He said that they have a metal blade that people mount on their Skill saw and cut 1/4 rebar and thick metal all day. Way faster then a die grinder ect and the ability to cut straighter. Never even thought about a skill saw to cut metal? But I guess if you have the room why not. Most of the metal I cut is to small to even think about a Skill.

How often are you guys checking and filling/changing the worm drive oil? They recomend a full up after the first 10hrs

Bosh rep says they Own Diablo as well. He said that they have a metal blade that people mount on their Skill saw and cut 1/4 rebar and thick metal all day. Way faster then a die grinder ect and the ability to cut straighter. Never even thought about a skill saw to cut metal? But I guess if you have the room why not. Most of the metal I cut is to small to even think about a Skill.

Damn. That would have made cutting all the panels on this mailbox so much easier. Next time, I guess.

I changed my oil last year (saw was 3 years old then). Drain it, fill it with a little kerosene and run the saw for about 45 sec. drain and repeat the kerosene trick till it runs clear. I refilled mine with Royal Purple gear oil.

I got a chance to play with my new toy. I'm kicking my self for not getting one of these sooner. My other saws are like scalpels and this is like a sword. I thought the weight of the saw was kind of a detractor but after seeing how the saw works the weight of the saw helps you cut. Normally the light weight saws you feel like your pushing the saw threw the wood. If you happen to be cutting on a downward rip it's like the weight of the saw helps it push it self threw the cut. And also the weight seems to not make the saw drift off line as easy. My cuts were much easier then I'm used to. Having the blade on left side makes your line of sight much better if your right handed like me. I tryed 3 blades Hilti the Irwin and the Diablo they all cut clean crisp cuts and I'm sure that's cause they were all brand new. To do a more controlled test you would have to cut the same cuts over and over to put some wear on the blade and then see how each blade is after a weeks worth of use or so. Here is the shelf I built in my Man Cave.

Here is the Mag 77 LT it's pretty cool but I'm sure it is pretty much the same as the rest of the saw's and what's just awesome about these saws is they pretty much last forever. My father in law has his Original saw it must be 25+ years old of constant use and it still works as good as any.

When he would come to the lake house and help do improvements he had cool way of turning his saw into a table saw, he would turn the saw upside down and mount it into a sawhorse looking table he made that held the saw upside down and in place and we could cut 4x8 sheets and trim like it was on a table saw. The only ghetto/ scary part was we had to rig the trigger ON by sticking a piece of wood in between the tribe gaurd

The LT is much lighter than the mag. It's completely different, the case is different along with the base and handle. The blade wrench attaches to the base.
I bought one as soon as I saw it. By far my favorite but I got one for every occasion. The one on the upper left is 8 1/4".
Also replacement parts always come in Bosch packaging.

The Prazi beam saw will convert any skilsaw into that for around $160 on Amazon. Big foot tools takes a shd77 and puts a trick mag base on it. The one I have is a 10 1/4" blade. It is lighter than a standard skilsaw. The 8 1/4" is heavy but the cool thing about it is it will bevel up to 60*.

So I sold my Mag 77 and Bought the Bosh version of the Mag77 LT the lighter faster spinning Skill. It's pretty much the same as the Mag 77LT with a Bosh's flare on it.
My only regret is that I didn't keep or have the Mag77 at the same time I get the Bosh. I would love to do a side by side comparison of the Faster spinning "5300 rpm" Bosh Vs the Slower spinning "4700 Rpm Mag77" it would be Intresting to see or not see how the extra few rpms help you rip or not?